Forbes declares Valve's Gabe Newell "The Newest Video Game Billionaire" in an article on the success of Valve and Steam. They admit that they can't know the true financial state of Valve, which is privately owned, but they offer a "conservative" estimate that's pretty eye-popping: "Even the most conservative estimates put Valve’s enterprise value at more than $3 billion, and since Newell owns more than 50% of the company, that means he’s worth at least $1.5 billion."

This is a good reason why STEAM is still a good product. Going public skews executive interest towards 'perceived value' over actual value. One reason is because tax laws incentives that pollute the natural supply/demand ratio for stocks. It's all mostly a show now, not a real free market, but rather a corporatist gambling arena.